Physics is not Dogma. Science is not Religion. Question Everything.
Whenever you start your education, you are often taught in a very traditional, perhaps ancient way, by most people. The ideals of elders teaching children things they know and their predecessors have known, without being questioned or forced to stir the pot, disturb the peace of pre-established rules, laws, ideas and ‘facts’, permeate the learning experience of most people on the planet. Let’s not pretend that most educational systems do not rely on a rather forceful, memorisation-based, ‘shove it in your brain and spit it out later’ method.
Most teachers also seem to take offense to being questioned by a younger person. How dare you question me? I am your elder!
Get over yourself, the knowledge does not belong to you. It belongs to everyone. You definitely did not write it yourself, too, if it came from 100-500 years ago!
I have been learning some ‘hardcore’ physics topics on my own (as in, studying for my master’s), like General Relativity and whatnot. We dive so deep into ideas and deconstruct the very language of the world, to strain our ears to desperately try to listen to what nature has to say (and oh, is it fascinating!). We spend hours with our minds, with our textbooks, problem sets, lectures, just trying to understand something so complex and so utterly breath-taking.
And since I am doing it at a rather great university (shoutout RUG!), I have surprising room for questioning. Well, I would say I have created it for myself, but they definitely do not ‘discourage’ it.
When you are being taught facts about the world, as a child, most people tell you to shut the fuck up and listen — or worse, to stop bothering them with your endless questions — but that is the worst way to teach anyone anything. I’ve been realising that I really shouldn’t have to take things at face-value, especially when they are about the very nature of the universe.
Why should I hold back from asking ‘why’, even about something deceptively ‘simple’? News flash, people, nothing is ever ‘that simple’. Well, it is simple in the sense that you can understand it rather easily, but everything can be elaborated upon, explored, questioned. Things are simple, yet they are multi-faceted and complex, especially since our knowledge comes from 2000+ years ago, built up over millennia by our predecessors! How could our knowledge not be multi-layered?!
When you learn physics for the first time, if you are like me, you are filled with wonder, you question why things even work the way they tell you they do. It is like people forgot that textbooks aren’t holy books, sent down from bloody heaven or written by someone who created everything and knows all secrets (imagine believing in a god that gets all the facts wrong… psh). Textbooks, anything containing knowledge, are written by humans. It is rather peculiar to me that I should just ‘take someone’s word’ for something that seems so profound and so awe-inspring. I am a person trying to understand the world me, why should I just believe some other human? Hm? I must be convinced!
For example, Newton’s laws. Now, I understand why they give them to you and make you go home. They seem obvious to most people who spent any time with them, they are preached as unquestionable and important — so, so important… then a few years later, they tell you some person went and questioned them, instead of drinking them up like a zealot enjoying whatever faith feels like to them. HOW DO THEY NOT SEE IT?
Einstein changed how we see the world because he said, ‘well, why? Why should I believe Newton? Convince me,’ or whatever other form his thoughts took that led him to realise gravity was not instantaneous, like Newton claimed.
I’ve managed to successfully build up a world for myself in which I question everything. Yes, I know this works, but why? Since I never had a chance to do that at school, or even during my bachelor’s (worst. Experience. Ever.), I can do it now!
If you have questions, do not label them stupid. People call questions stupid, when in an educational setting, because they are insecure and feel inadequate to answer them. Do not let anyone trudge on your curiosity! If you don’t get a concept, don’t just assume you’re stupid. The person in front of you explained it in a way that did not make sense to you, and that is so common, it probably creates a world for ‘stupid people’ to exist. That is something I actually love about my university — most of my professors, even the TA’s!!, say ‘if you don’t get it, ask me to explain it again, I may have explained it in a bad way, or in a way that doesn’t work for you’. I mean, how great is that?
Please, please, please, educators, stay true to your name, break away from the ancient ways of shoving biblical teachings down people’s throats, and create room for all those young, curious minds to keep on questioning! Do not let your pride or insecurities hinder the intellectual growth of future generations!
That is all. Back to studying!
